`20/20' Shows Big-bucks Documentary On Jacko

TV EYE

February 06, 2003|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant TV Critic

Michael Jackson may not sell recordings the way he once did, but boy, can he move the tabloids and bump TV sweeps ratings.

Trumping the upcoming ``Dateline NBC'' report ``Michael Jackson Unmasked'' planned for Feb. 17, ABC plunked down a reported $4 million to $5 million for the rights to the Granada documentary ``Living With Michael Jackson.''

Conducted by ITV1's Martin Bashir, who spent eight months with the star -- including that stop in Berlin where Jackson swung his youngest child over a hotel balcony -- the interview includes what must be the only treetop interview with the onetime Jackson 5 lead singer.

The interviewer's questions might go beyond the scolding tone the star gets from U.S. interviewers like Diane Sawyer. But because the 90-minute documentary is reshaped into a two-hour edition of ``20/20'' (ABC, 8 p.m.), Barbara Walters will be sure to add her tsk-tsks.

Originally scheduled for Friday, the show has been moved to tonight not only to cash in on the overexposure in the tabloid-minded corners of the press, but also to do something with the hole left by ``N.T.S.B.: The Crash of Flight 323.''

The made-for-TV movie starring Mandy Patinkin originally scheduled for tonight was yanked from the because of scenes that seemed in particularly bad taste after Saturday's crash of the Columbia space shuttle. The movie hasn't been rescheduled.

Caseworker Files

The most troubling report on TV tonight is the second part of a ``Frontline'' (CPTV, 9 p.m.) that began last week with the sobering tale of Logan Marr. She's the 5-year-old removed by Maine's Department of Human Services from a mother who had never harmed her and placed in the home of a woman who killed her.

Maine officials didn't want to talk about that case but agreed to let ``Frontline'' producers watch the workings of their office for four months, which had its own excesses of heartbreak.

Among the many cases they try to handle is one about a 10-year-old boy apparently abused by his father but still more distraught about being separated from him.

Then there's the 2-year-old who is removed from a house deemed too filthy and dangerous, though rural poverty plays a role.

And there is a woman in a trailer who strives to keep her children despite a single unproven allegation against a boyfriend. Nevertheless, she severs all contact with him, lest she lose her family.

There's no clear conclusion in ``The Caseworker Files.'' Its producers don't lead you down a path of obvious fault the way other newsmagazines might. But at its end, it seems that the caseworkers are dedicated, if undertrained. And the workers who seem most determined to seek state-mandated separation from families are those who have least contact with the families involved.

Naturally, the program raises enough questions to require a wide-ranging discussion afterward. ``Failure To Protect: A National Dialogue'' (CPTV, 10 p.m.), moderated by John Hockenberry, includes U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., ABC correspondent Cynthia McFadden and Rose Garland, an artist and former foster-care child.

Star Searching

While ``American Idol'' is just starting to heat up, ``Star Search'' (CBS, 8 p.m.) is closing its season, selecting the best of its auditioning singers, young and old, models and comedians.

While there has been some notable talent on display, it's almost impossible to watch a show hogged by the goofy, self-involved Arsenio Hall, and guided by a panel of judges who couldn't be less qualified. The permanent panel has been a surprisingly unfunny Carol Leifer, an erratic and gruff-voiced Ben Stein and a wholly loopy Naomi Judd, branded both the crazy one and the only one who votes with any degree of honesty, at least when it comes to unfunny comics.

Add to them the rotating ``celebrity'' judges, from Jack Osbourne to Kelly Rowland, only too happy to be sitting instead of entertaining, and there's yet a fourth judge wildly overrating the contestants.

``Search'' has been doing well enough in the ratings this winter, though, to warrant a hurried-up second season starting Feb. 19.

Also On Tonight

When it comes time for the annual quiz night on ``The Office'' (BBC America, 10:20 p.m.), it's not a good idea to try to beat the boss's team.

Mike Figgis might best be known for his remarkable ``Leaving Las Vegas,'' but he has done enough to warrant another edition of ``The Directors: The Films of Mike Figgis'' (Encore, 7 p.m.).

It certainly is a ``Surreal World'' (The WB, 9 p.m.) if the rest of the house has to go out to roust up a date for Brande Roderick, resident former ``Baywatch'' star and 2001 Playmate of the Year.

On Late Night

A Connecticut State Police dog that opens car doors may or may not be one of the Stupid Pet Tricks on a David Letterman show, which also features the Pretenders appearing between two Connecticut gigs.